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Tuesday February 10

KGI is out with a new report today predicting both a large rise in the number of Touch ID sensors shipped this year as well as an improved version of the biometric security reader for the next version of the iPhone. “We raise our 2015F shipments of Touch ID (fingerprint recognition) module by 12.4% to 262mn sets, up 77% YoY.” As for the updated Touch ID sensor, the improved version is believed to offer more reliable reads and better security as Apple continues to push Apple Pay, it’s recently launched mobile payment service:

We think the new iPhone, expected to launch in 3Q15, will be equipped with an upgraded Touch...

While assorted vendors are lining up and adding support for Apple Pay, JetBlue Airways has announced that it has become the first airline to use Apple Pay to purchase things in-flight starting next week.

Starting next week, passengers on select JetBlue Airways flights can use Apple Pay on their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus handsets to buy food, drinks and certain onboard amenities when the plane reaches cruising altitude. You’ll be able to upgrade to available premium seats via Apple Pay as well.

JetBlue’s flight attendants will have iPad minis outfitted with a special case that will accept both credit cards and Apple Pay. Starting next week, only intercontinental flights from JFK to Los Angeles and San Francisco will accept Apple Pay, with additional flights in March and plans for all JetBlue flights to accept the payment service in June. Like iPhone 6 and...

The Touch ID fingerprint sensor will get an upgrade this year with Apple's next-generation iPhone, according to well-connected insider Ming-Chi Kuo, who said on Tuesday that the new model will improve the Apple Pay experience with fewer reading errors.

Apparently, a South African pilot managed to drop his MacBook Air notebook from the light aircraft he was flying when the canopy flew open. The MacBook, along with his flying license and logbook, fell 1000 feet into the fields below–but amazingly survived the experience.

Upon recovery, was bent, the glass trackpad shattered and the cooling fans were damaged, but the screen remained intact and the MacBook continues to work.

The MacBook was found by a farmer, along with with the pilot’s paperwork, which enabled the farmer to make contact via Facebook in order to arrange to return the items.

Apple is working to step up the secrecy surrounding future iPhone and iPad models by targeting a frequent source of leaks: third-party accessory makers. 9to5Mac has learned that in fall 2014, just before the iPhone 6 launched, Apple demanded that a number of leading accessory makers sign agreements barring them from seeking out information about future Apple devices, according to four sources with first-hand knowledge of the matter.

On one hand, the agreement dangled the loss of “future business opportunities that Apple and/or its affiliates may present to you” as a potential consequence of violating or not signing the agreement. On the other hand, signing and following it could lead to months-long delays in making accessories like cases available, during the time of year when those cases were most needed and demanded by customers....

TL;DR I’d like to see the Time Limits feature from OS X come to the Parental Controls in iOS.

It’s hard to deny that the iPad is an unbridled success and that it changed how we use computers in our daily lives. For kids, this might be the understatement of the decade. The iPad is a kid’s dream, it can play games, movies, music and can be interacted with on many levels.

The iPad’s popularity with children is simultaneously its best and its worst feature. Ask any parent with young kids.

I have two kids (ages 7 and 4) and they received iPad minis for Christmas. While iPads are nothing short of magic to young kids, things can quickly turn ugly when young ones are told that “it’s time to put the iPads away.”

My seven year old is definitely ready for an iPad but my four year old is borderline. As any parent will tell you: what you buy for one you need to buy for the other.

It’s important to set limits on iPad use for young kids, so that they can do...

I love the VIP Sender feature in OS X and iOS and use it all the time.

It works like this: click a sender’s name/email address in either OS X Mail or Mail.app and select “Add to VIPs.” Doing so prioritizes email from that sender and when new mail arrives, you’ll see an alert in notification center.

It’s super-convenient when you’re waiting for an important email from a client, colleague or your spouse. You can’t help but notice the email’s arrival on your iPhone lock screen and VIP Sender has saved my bacon many times. I’m using a VIP Sender this week to correspond back and forth with my account, for example, because I’d like to know immediately when he emails me.

The problem is that Apple caps the number of VIPs at 100 and once you’ve reached the cap your...

The 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display may have the highest resolution screen in the world today, but it seems Apple will have to up its game next year if it wants to retain that title: 8K displays are expected to arrive sometime in 2016.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has announced Embedded DisplayPort standard version 1.4a, which uses a new compression standard to support higher resolution panels, together with greater color depth and faster refresh rates. The new standard allows manufacturers to pipe around four times as much data to displays to support panels with resolutions of up to 8K.

The standard will also benefit machines with lower-resolution screens by enabling displays to be thinner, and extending...

Left, a Sport Cruiser aircraft of the same type; right, the MacBook Air after the fall

A South African pilot appears to have taken the name of his MacBook Air a little too literally, managing to drop it from the light aircraft he was flying when the canopy flew open. The MacBook, along with his flying license and logbook, fell 1000 feet into the fields below–but amazingly survived the experience.

Admittedly it didn’t emerge entirely unscathed. Pilot and Reddit user Av80r reports that the unibody casing was bent, the glass trackpad shattered and the cooling fans were damaged, but the screen remained intact and the MacBook continues to work …

Qualcomm, which makes baseband communications chips for Apple and licenses 3G and 4G patents to other smartphone manufacturers, has been fined almost a billion dollars by the Chinese government in an anti-trust case. The company was found to have abused its dominant position in wireless chip technology by charging “unfairly high” licensing fees to manufacturers of smartphones and tablets.

The 6B Yuan ($960M) fine is the largest fine ever imposed on a foreign company, reports the Guardian. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the fine was calculated as 8% of Qualcomm’s 2013 revenue in China. China is responsible for around half of Qualcomm’s total revenue.

Even for those of us who aren’t designers or typographers, a company’s corporate font seems to seep deep into our consciousness. I mean, yeah, that’s what it’s meant to do, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the extent to which we’ve internalized the slight and esoteric differences in the shapes of letters and assigned them to individual companies can sometimes be surprising.

Let’s try an experiment, using Apple’s old corporate font, a specialised cut of a condensed weight of the famous Garamond typeface.

Yeah, those ain’t working; they just look like words written out rather than logos. Even in the case of Google, whose corporate font—with that distinctive double-story lowercase G—is the closest to Apple’s, your brain knows there’s something wrong. But set a few of the product names from the era of Apple Garamond using it, and ahhhh, that just feels right.

Monday February 9

Some frequent flyers will soon be able to use Apple Pay to order drinks or upgrade their seat for extra legroom, as U.S. airline JetBlue announced on Tuesday that it would start accepting Apple's mobile payment service on select flights next week.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at the White House cybersecurity summit Friday at Stanford University, according to an event invitation.

The White House is expected to reveal its next executive action on cybersecurity at the summit, which will bring together tech executives, leading academics and government officials to discuss ways in which the government can better collaborate with the private sector on cybersecurity initiatives.

Cook’s remarks will come amid a debate between tech companies and law enforcement officials over encryption.

Encryption and security is becoming more and more important to everyone on the internet – business, consumers, and governments. It will be interesting to see if anything concrete comes out of this summit.

Passengers on select JetBlue flights will be able to purchase food and drinks using their iPhone, USA Today reports. Customers will also reportedly be able to use the payment service to upgrade to any open premium seat once the flight has started.

Payments will be handled by airline employees using iPad minis with NFC-equipped cases. Over 3,500 of these devices have been issued to JetBlue staff. The cases will also accept regular credit cards, and will serve as a full replacement for the existing in-flight payment terminals.

Apple's chief executive will reportedly be among those speaking to participants at Friday's White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection, an event designed to bring together representatives from all sides of the cybersecurity and privacy debate.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to speak at a White House “cyber summit” at the end of the week, The Hill reported today. The White House is expected to unveil a new cybersecurity program during the summit, and is bringing together leaders in technology and government to address the issue.

Cook’s exact talking points haven’t been revealed, but Apple has previously taken strong stances on issues of customer privacy—putting it in direct conflict...

A new report today (via Gigaom) has provided some more information about the alliance the two companies recently forged. According to UBS analyst Steven Milunovich, Apple has taken a dominant role in the relationship, demanding that IBM salespeople carry MacBooks pre-loaded with sales presentations created by Apple.

Sling TV offers plans starting at $20 (with $5 add-ons available for some networks) that includes streaming and video-on-demand viewing options for live TV networks that usually require a pricey cable subscription, such as ESPN, TNT, Disney, TBS, CNN, and many more.

We all snap pictures like crazy these days and post them to a number of sharing sites. But there was a time when you would be so excited to get your roll of film back to see what pics you shot. Mari and Linda Johannessen are bringing that experience back with a new app for iPhone. You can take 24 pics, but you can’t review them. When the “film roll” is full, you send it away and get back 24 developed prints, delivered to your physical mailbox, within a week.

Dish Network announced on Monday that its new over-the-top web television service, Sling TV, is now open for business and will include content from AMC --?the television home of Breaking Bad and Mad Men --?as well as access to WatchESPN apps for all customers.

Apple looks set to continue expanding its debt offering program, with the company reportedly planning a new sale of bonds denominated in Swiss francs designed to take advantage of the extremely low yields available in the market.

Motorists in the United States are increasingly at risk of cyberattacks and violations of privacy, as more and more technology is added to their cars. A report released on Sunday by the office of Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) listed a number of key findings that are based on responses from 16 auto makers to a letter sent to them by Markey's office. While the Markey report praised some voluntary privacy principles adopted by two industry groups, it also raised some questions about them.

Remember those minivans driving around San Francisco with cameras on top that were reportedly leased to Apple? Well, a new rumor coming from Business Insider claims that the site was contacted by an Apple employee who says the company is planning a project that will “give Tesla a run for its money.”

Fans of Apple's Swift language can now use their newly developed skills to write software for systems supporting both .NET and Java, including Android.

The Silver compiler, currently in beta, compiles Swift programs to run in the .NET and Java runtimes. It can also produce native binaries to run on OS X. With Silver, Swift developers can share their business logic and non-interface code across the different platforms.

Silver won't, however, permit full cross-platform apps to be developed. The company behind Silver, RemObjects, promotes the use of native development: iOS apps should use iOS user interface libraries so that they feel right on iOS. Similarly, .NET apps should use Windows' user interface libraries, and Java apps should use the Android or Java libraries as appropriate. The justification is that this will produce interfaces that are familiar to the users of the various...

The floral wire services, FTD and Teleflora, were very relevant in 1910 and 1934 when they began, respectively. These companies, along with 1980s upstart 1-800-Flowers, now dominate the industry by advertising their national brand and squeezing local florists. While these companies, and mail-order services like Proflowers, blanket the airwaves and Web pages with ads showing off their great deals before major flower-giving holidays, they are not the best choice to get the best bloom for your buck.

We have long recommended that flower-givers follow this basic process

Definitely buy your significant other, male or female, a flower arrangement. But do your best to support your local flower merchant.

Apple’s record-breaking holiday quarter, which brought in $18 billion in earnings, allowed the company to capture 93 percent of the profit in the handset industry, according to a new report from Canaccord Genuity, an investment firm.

Owners of Samsung smart TVs need to watch what they say if they've activated the voice recognition feature on these devices. The feature may transmit some voice commands, together with information about the device, to a third-party service that converts speech to text, Samsung's global privacy policy warns. If voice recognition is going to be on all the time, "that seems like really poor design, and certainly represents a privacy risk," said Justin Brookman, director of the consumer privacy project at the Center for Democracy & Technology.

Apple is supposedly working on a vehicle-related project that is "too exciting to pass up" for potential hires, according to a new report, and is said to have employees from electric carmaker Tesla "jumping ship" in order to take part.

In our terrestrial view of things, the speed of light seems incredibly fast. But as soon as you view it against the vast distances of the universe, it’s unfortunately very slow. This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the surface of the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system, from a human perspective.

This visualization of the speed of light and the realization that, on a galactic scale, it’s actually really slow, is all kinds of mind boggling.

Unlike other affordable photo-editing apps out there, which are usually dumbed down offerings with only a subset of Photoshop’s usefulness, Affinity Photo is trying to set itself apart by offering the power of Photoshop in a program that’s blazing fast and ridiculously affordable.

Looks very interesting and for free, there’s no harm in giving it a try.

In this chapter, we’ll look at a few essential security steps that are so easy, and so fundamental, that everyone should run through them. They include instructions for how to stay current with important security updates and a few key security settings.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

In ExtraBITS this week, cloud backup service Backblaze has released the raw data from its hard drive reliability studies, Verizon is bulking up its data plans, The New York Times examines Apple’s victory over Microsoft, and President Obama has announced modest NSA reforms.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Dish Network on Monday officially launched Sling TV, its widely anticipated US$20 per month streaming service, and further announced that customers could sign up for a "Sports Extra" add-on pack for $5 per month. The service, which is available now via a one-week free trial, can be accessed via Roku devices, and through Android, iOS, Mac and PC devices -- with support for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick coming soon. Dish also announced that the basic package will have AMC added in the coming weeks.

We’re most excited for 8.2 because it includes support for Apple Watch and that rumored Companion app, plus new Health app capabilities. But iOS 8.3 packs in some useful features like wireless CarPlay, no Lightning cable required. No word yet on which cars will support wireless CarPlay or when 8.3 will roll out.

You lock your door when you leave for the weekend, and in this week’s chapter from the streamed “Take Control of Security for Mac Users,” you’ll learn about similarly essential security practices for your Mac.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

R.B.I. Baseball 15 promises a number of updates bringing the most realistic experience to date, most notability including authentic ballparks and full 25-man rosters for all 30 Major League teams. It also includes user stat tracking for the first time as well as an online multiplayer mode with both ranked and friendly games. Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo will be on the cover for this year’s rendition. A release date has yet to be...

In addition to working on iOS 8.2, iOS 8.3, and iOS 9.0, Apple is working on yet another update to iOS 8: iOS 8.4. According to sources, the iOS 8.4 upgrade is well into development and is codenamed Copper, a popular ski resort in Colorado. Sources say that the iOS 8.4 update will be released after the Apple Watch becomes available, so users should not expect this update in the immediate future. Sources also say that Apple is currently considering using iOS 8.4 as the iOS update that includes the upcoming Beats-based streaming music service…

The forthcoming release of iOS 8.3 will enable wireless CarPlay support, removing the requirement for iPhones to be connected to head units through a Lightning cable. It also includes a revised emoji keyboard that allows users to scroll and browse more easily.

Alongside iOS 8.3 beta 1, Apple released Xcode 6.3 beta with a new version of Swift, its programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch used by developers to write apps for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. The new release brings Swift, which was first announced last June at WWDC 2014, up to version 1.2.

Xcode 6.3 includes a new version of the Swift language. It includes a number of noteworthy changes to the language, detailed in the New in Xcode 6.3 beta section. Xcode 6.3 provides a migrator for moving your code to Swift 1.2.

Swift 1.2 is described as a “significant update” to the programming language while changes are...

Before the public release of iOS 8.2, Apple on Monday already provided its development community with a beta build of iOS 8.3, along with a new version of its Swift programming language with "noteworthy" changes.

While iOS 8.2 is not even in the hands of consumers yet, Apple has just seeded the first build of the upcoming iOS 8.3 to developers. Apple has not yet disclosed what iOS 8.3 brings to iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches, but we’ll keep you posted. We previously reported that iOS 8.2 will be released in March, before the April release of the Apple Watch. Earlier today we reported that iOS 9 will bring many bug and stability fixes later this year. We first reported last year that iOS 8.3 would be launching this year.

Canon this month is gearing up to release its latest wave of DSLR cameras, including a pair of prosumer-focused T6 Rebels and its all-new professional series EOS 5DS and EOS 5DS R -- both of which are capable of shooting 50.6-megapixel images and 1080p video.

Longtime Apple users speak fondly of the Snow Leopard (10.6) release of OS X. Even though it came with "no new features," it won users over by reducing the footprint of the OS and focusing mostly on refinement. A report from 9to5Mac's well-sourced Mark Gurman claims that Apple is taking a similar approach with iOS 9, focusing on fixing bugs and optimizing performance rather than adding another big stack of new features to the pile.

The report isn't specific about what Apple will be doing to accomplish those goals, but in any case it's a departure from the release-first-fix-later approach Apple normally takes with iOS. iOS 7's biggest problems were addressed by...

In the months leading up to the launch of Apple Watch, talk has largely revolved around the watch’s style and specs like battery life. But Apple’s wearable might actually be a game-changer now that the Food and Drug Administration is giving health app developers more freedom.

Apple

Medical device maker DexCom is readying an Apple Watch app to pair with its diabetes glucose monitor to help diabetics monitor their blood-sugar levels all day long. According to the Wall Street Journal, DexCom will display data it pulls from a sensor beneath the skin as a graph on the Apple Watch face.

While Apple and IBM's enterprise partnership is specifically about iOS devices, Apple has also insisted that IBM's salespeople use Mac hardware when making their pitches to customers, ensuring that the company's tightly integrated ecosystem remains in focus.

Following the success of OS X Snow Leopard for Macs in 2009, one of iOS 9’s standout ‘features’ will be a directed focus on stabilizing and optimizing the operating system. While stability is normally an expected component in Apple software rather than a marquee feature, the rapid pace of iOS releases and feature introductions has taken a toll […]

Apple has historically downplayed the significance of megapixels in measuring image quality, and the company may stick to that approach once again later this year with another 8-megapixel camera in its next-generation iPhone, according to a new rumor.

Medical company DexCom says that a glucose monitor made by the company that monitors blood sugar levels will be supported by the Apple Watch. The company is currently working on an app for the wearable that will be able to show blood sugar levels at a glance and can monitor them continuously.

The app has apparently been under construction for some time and while the Food and Drug Administration is generally required to approve new medical hardware, a hands-off approach to the companion app has allowed developers to sink their teeth into its creation for the time being.

Conventional glucose monitors require the user to prick their skin with a needle in order to draw a drop of blood to place on a test-strip, a process that is inconvenient and which generates only isolated readings. The DexCom monitor uses a tiny sensor embedded just under the...

Apple reported the largest profit ever recorded by a public company in the holiday quarter, mostly driven by sales of 74 million iPhones with an average selling price of $687. According to Cannacord, this meant Apple captured 93% of handset smartphone profits. Perhaps more staggering is that it claims Apple dominated on similar levels across the entire of 2014 — with 79% […]

When Apple enters a new business, you know it’s not going to do so in a half-hearted, small way. When it launches its Apple-branded Beats Music service later this year, it’s a no-brainer to predict that it’s going to be a big deal for the music industry. With Apple’s deep integration of Beats into its existing iOS/iTunes ecosystem exclusively revealed by Mark Gurman added into the mix, I wonder whether the unique selling points being notched up by Apple could be enough to leave existing big-name players like Spotify, Google Play and Rdio dead in the water?

If you’re hankering for an updated MacBook Air, there may be some good news on the horizon.

According to a new rumor, Apple may be refreshing the current MacBook Air as early as February 24th. Swedish web site Leterm svetem Applem, citing sources from the Czech reseller network, states the update will come with no fanfare or keynote presentation, unsurprising considering a lack of major changes for the lineup. Apple also won’t discuss the long-rumored ultra-slim MacBook Air around the launch of the new refresh, hoping the “quiet” update tides users over until later in the year.

The update itself might include only minor bumps to areas like storage and processing power, with Apple choosing from 2.2GHz Core i5-5250U, 1.8GHz Core i5 chip, and 2GHz Core i7 processors, while keeping the well-known 11- and 13-inch form factors of current MacBook Airs. Intel launched the new...

Fast-paced growth in the IT industry and low unemployment rates for tech workers are making it difficult for corporate executives to find qualified hires. Add to that a bullish frenzy of investor support and corporate acquisitions as key factors driving the continued growth of the technology industry. The global IT market totaled more than US$3.7 trillion in 2014 -- and the U.S. market accounts for approximately 28 percent of that total, according to research firm IDC.

Will Apple’s new Photos app, which just saw the light of day in beta form, replace iPhoto and Aperture? Jason Snell shares his first impressions of the beta.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Apple's domination in the smartphone market compelled Canaccord Genuity to raise its price target on Apple stock to $145 on Monday, advising investors to buy in on the continued strength of the new iPhone 6, which decimated profits for competitors last quarter.

In the fifth and final part of our series on computing for the visually impaired, Mariva H. Aviram discusses hardware options, ergonomics, and new innovations in adaptive tech.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

It’s no surprise that the three major card companies in the US have been taking advantage of being the first with Apple Pay out the door and that the majority of their latest ads and promotions have centered around the new payment service. The latest comes from American Express with a just released ad focusing on highlighting Apple Pay as “The Next Evolution of Membership.”

The ad is supposed to be a quick history lesson of sorts, showing the evolution of American Express by stitching together some of the company’s ads from over the years, many of which featured celebrities such as Tina Fey, Jackie Chan, and Jerry Seinfeld. The point of the ad is to showcase Apple Pay as the latest innovation for card tech, and it’s...

The new version of Skype for iPhone highlights the ability to save contacts from the app’s phone dialer just like the native Phone app on iOS. You can also save contacts to Skype from the recent call list starting with this version, and Microsoft touts improved chat notification reliability as well.

Finally, Microsoft is reintroducing support for Skype URIs which let other developers include interactions with Skype...

Before there was his current Apple gig, there was Dr. Dre’s storied rise from the streets of Compton to global hiphop sensation and producer which eventually led to the headphone, speaker, and streaming music brand and Jimmy Iovine partnership with Beats.

This is the Hollywood version of that story which Dr. Dre co-produced.

Straight Outta Compton – Red Band Trailer with Introduction from Dr. Dre and Ice Cube (HD) (Official)
The Story of N.W.A. – In Theaters August 14thhttp://www.straightouttacompton.com/

In the mid-1980s, the streets of Compton, California, were some of the most dangerous in the country. When five young men translated their experiences growing up into brutally honest...

Apple may be planning to debut a relatively minor update for its existing MacBook Air lineup in a matter of days, though won't be the anticipated 12-inch redesign with a high-resolution Retina display, according to a new rumor.

Geoffrey Goetz, writing for GigaOM, digs into the concept of code signing and getting your app on the App Store. Bottom line, code signing shows the world of difference between iOS and Android. It’s all about security.

Free-to-play games often look appealing, but it's difficult to know at a glance whether the business model is insidious and fun ruining, or reasonable and worth pumping a few bucks into. With Freemium Field Test, we'll take a recent free-to-play iOS game, put it through its paces, and let you know if it's really worth your time (and money).

I'm well into the user testing of the next generation of Microsoft's operating system and things are really looking up. Windows 10 is becoming a blend of the many things we liked about Windows 7, and the things that most folks don't know about that are great about Windows 8. Windows 10 is like a breath of fresh air, or for those truly annoyed with Windows 8, like the feeling you get when you stop hitting your head against the wall. Ironically, it's likely that the folks who hate Windows 8 will likely love Windows 10 the most.

Diabetics using a glucose monitor made by DexCom will be able to see a continuous graph of their blood sugar levels on the Apple Watch, says the company. It is working on an app for the smartwatch that is expected to be available when the Apple Watch launches in April – alongside a similar app […]

On January 19, I received an email from Apple’s iTunes Store containing a list of songs I had recently purchased. The only problem? I hadn’t bought any of them.

Now, I’m highly paranoid about account issues, and have two-step verification enabled on both of my Apple IDs. I checked to make sure no other settings had been changed and I hadn’t seen any telltales of my account being cracked.

While I’m not an active target of abuse, I have waded into the GamerGate controversy, although purchasing about $8 in songs hardly seemed like something done to harass. Perhaps it was a “pilot fish,” an attempt to probe at a weakness, see if it could be exploited, and then used for worse ends? One of the songs was Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells,” better known as the theme to the movie The Omen,...

Sunday February 8

Apple's Campus 2 mega-project is showing major progress in its "Spaceship" Ring, where interlocking concrete slabs are building a foundation for a steel structure that is already beginning to reach upward by four stories. The first massive parking garage is nearly finished and existing buildings have been demolished to make room for a second stage R&D site.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Apple dropped a new iPad TV spot featuring music creation apps just in time for the Grammy Awards, featuring Swedish recording artist Elliphant, UK producer Riton, DJ The Gaslamp Killer and Parisian film director So Me.

Apple news website letemsvetemapplem.eu claims that Apple has a scheduled MacBook Air update for February 24th. The site says that this Air refresh will be minor, so if it is indeed happening, the update will likely focus on processor, storage, and RAM improvements. Of course, this is not the radically new 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina display […]

Apple today posted a new advertisement for the iPad to highlight artist Elliphant’s recording and beat making via the tablet. The one minute long ad highlights different applications used to make music with the iPad, ranging from first-party apps like Garageband to third-party programs such as Manual Camera and Nano Studio. The “iPad Remix” of the song All […]

Saturday February 7

Even as Apple is reportedly struggling to put together its own long-rumored web television initiative, satellite provider Dish Network has begun to roll out its competing Sling TV over-the-top offering to a select group of early adopters. AppleInsider was given access to the invite-only beta and brings some first impressions of the impressive service.

Many thanks to Elgato for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Elgato Thunderbolt 2 Dock enables you to connect everything to your MacBook or Ultrabook at once. With two Thunderbolt 2 and three USB 3.0 ports, simultaneously connect all of your devices with only one cable. Built-in HDMI enables you to directly connect a display of your choice up to 4K resolution, while enjoying increased network performance with built-in Gigabit Ethernet and crystal-clear conference calls through the separate microphone input and amplified audio output.

In a surprise move, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed classifying ISPs as common carriers. Geoff Duncan analyzes the potential ramifications.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Friday February 6

Apple's new Swift programming language has only been available for a few months, but iOS and OS X developers from American Airlines, Getty Images, LinkedIn and Duolingo are reporting favorable impressions--ranging from increased productivity to fewer bugs in their shipping apps--as interest in the new language rapidly accelerates.

Corning announced today that it is preparing to ship a new type of glass that can withstand scratches almost as well as sapphire while providing superior drop protection. The glass is the result of “Project Phire,” which aimed to create a more scratch-resistant glass to rival sapphire. The announcement comes shortly after the company debuted […]

Students at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have built the island republic's first 3D-printed concept car. The NTU Venture 8 (NV8) is built on a carbon fiber single-shell chassis. Its 150 3D parts were made out of lightweight plastic that were created on printers at the university, 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys, and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. The vehicle has a honeycomb structure and is partially powered by solar cells designed to flow with the shape of the chassis.

Apple today began training its retail store employees in multiple countries, including the U.S. and the U.K, about the upcoming Apple Watch. The training is said to not divulge many new details, but the beginning of the training program does represent Apple’s first move on the retail employee level in preparing for the Watch. We […]

This time every year, the Sapporo Snow Festival draws millions of people to Sapporo to see hundreds of intricately detailed snow sculptures and to participate in snow-themed cultural festivities.

The festival features an International Snow Sculpting Contest with teams from 12 countries around the world. 6,500 tons of snow is transported to the three festival sites throughout the month of January from locations in and around Sapporo.

We’ve released a free update to “Take Control of OS X Server” that brings it up to date with Yosemite Server.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Glassmaker Corning on Friday unveiled "Project Phire," a glass composite that the company says is just as strong and drop-resistant as its latest Gorilla Glass but nearly as scratch-resistant as sapphire.

There was a strange moment during Twitter’s fourth-quarter earnings call when the company’s chief financial officer, Anthony Noto, was trying to explain how the network lost 4 million monthly active users in the quarter. Noto off-handedly attributed the loss to trouble with iOS 8’s rollout, specifically Twitter integration with Safari, before quickly turning to other metrics.

Photos for OS X is the biggest change introduced in the first beta build of OS X 10.10.3, but the folks at MacRumors have discovered another: preliminary support for better diversity in emoji.

The implementation looks like the one laid out in a Unicode Consortium draft proposal published in November. That proposal calls for a selection of five color swatches, which, when combined with a "base" emoji like a man or woman's face, can change that emoji to display different skin and hair colors. Apple's early implementation is full of blank and placeholder images, but it looks like certain emoji are getting a dropdown menu that will allow users to choose from among several versions of the same basic emoji.

PCalc is a full-featured, scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit... Read more

FileZilla 3.10.2 - Fast and reliable FTP...

FileZilla (ported from Windows) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
Version 3.10.2:
Note: Now requires a 64-bit Intel processor.... Read more

The Hit List 1.1.11 - Advanced reminder...

The Hit List manages the daily chaos of your modern life. It's easy to learn - it's as easy as making lists. And it's powerful enough to let you plan, then forget, then act when the time is right.... Read more

Bartender 1.2.32 - Organize your menu ba...

Bartender lets you organize your menu bar apps.
Features:
Lets you tidy your menu bar apps how you want.
See your menu bar apps when you want.
Hide the apps you need to run, but do not need to... Read more

ClamXav 2.7.5 - Free virus checker, base...

ClamXav is a free virus checker for OS X. It uses the tried, tested, and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end.
I hope you like and use ClamXav a lot and that it helps keep... Read more

xScope 4.1.2 - Onscreen graphic measurem...

xScope is powerful set of tools that are ideal for measuring, inspecting, and testing on-screen graphics and layouts. Its tools float above your desktop windows and can be accessed via a toolbar,... Read more

MacFamilyTree 7.3.3 - Create and explore...

MacFamilyTree gives genealogy a facelift: it's modern, interactive, incredibly fast, and easy to use. We're convinced that generations of chroniclers would have loved to trade in their genealogy... Read more

Skype 7.5.0.738 - Voice-over-internet ph...

Skype allows you to talk to friends, family and co-workers across the Internet without the inconvenience of long distance telephone charges. Using peer-to-peer data transmission technology, Skype... Read more

PushPal 3.0 - Mirror Android notificatio...

PushPal is a client for Pushbullet, which automatically shows you all of your phone's notifications right on your computer. This means you can see who's calling or read text messages even if your... Read more

At this point it’s pretty safe to say that no MOBA is going to dethrone Dota 2 and League of Legends anytime soon. After all, if Batman can’t do it, nobody can. However, with a genre as popular and profitable as this one, there’s still room for... | Read more »

Final February Fun at 148Apps
How do you know what apps are worth your time and money? Just look to the review team at 148Apps. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you’re looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out... | Read more »

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitel...

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitely a Game You Should Keep an Eye on
Posted by Rob Rich on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
We were teased about Mediocre Games’ (Smash Hit,
| Read more »

F84 Games & POW! Announce Stan Lee V...

F84 Games has announced that it is working with legendary comic creator Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to produce Stan Lee’s Hero Command. The game will be a action adventure of heroic proportions.
| Read more »

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You C...

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You Can Focus On Rocking Out.
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
| Read more »

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vas...

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vast New Update!
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
| Read more »

Size DOES Matter Review

Size DOES Matter Review
By Campbell Bird on March 2nd, 2015
Our Rating: :: HARD TO BEATUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
This rhythm game has a unique control scheme and performance system that make it feel like a true... | Read more »

The first ever action 3D card battler Al...

On the other hand, you probably haven’t played an action 3D card battler – until now. Step forward, All Star Legion.
All Star Legion is a 3D QTE-based action RPG card battler, but fear not – the game itself isn’t as convoluted as its description.... | Read more »

Travel Back to the 1980s With the Making...

Headup Games has released a hilarious making of video for its upcoming title, Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic. The game is a RPG/Roguelike where you control three heroes set to save the township of Pixton from an evil cult called The Sons of Dawn.... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Sale! 15-inch 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro for $...

Best Buy has the 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro on sale for $1774.99 $1799.99, or $225 off MSRP. Choose free home shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Price valid for online orders... Read more

27-inch 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on...

B&H Photo has the 27″ 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on sale for $2299 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $200 off MSRP, and it’s the lowest price available for... Read more

Apple Launches Free Web-Based Pages and Other...

Apple’s new Web-only access to iWork productivity apps is a free level of iCloud service available to anyone, including people who don’t own or use Apple devices. The service includes access to Apple... Read more

Survey Reveals Solid State Disk (SSD) Technol...

In a recent SSD technology use survey, Kroll Ontrack, a firm specializing in data recovery, found that while nearly 90 percent of respondents leverage the performance and reliability benefits of SSD... Read more

Save up to $600 with Apple refurbished Mac Pr...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Pros for up to $600 off the cost of new models. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each Mac Pro, and shipping is free. The... Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook will deliver the George Washington University’s Commencement address to GWU grads on May 17, at which time he will also be awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from the... Read more

Apple restocks refurbished Mac minis for up t...

The Apple Store has restocked Apple Certified Refurbished 2014 Mac minis, with models available starting at $419. Apple’s one-year warranty is included with each mini, and shipping is free:
- 1.4GHz... Read more

Walmart has the 16GB iPad Air 2 WiFi on sale for $446.99 on their online store for a limited time. Choose free shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Sale price for online orders only,... Read more

Jobs Board

*Apple* Solutions Consultant - Retail Sales...

**Job Summary** As an Apple Solutions Consultant (ASC) you are the link between our customers and our products. Your role is to drive the Apple business in a retail
Read more

*Apple* Pay Automation Engineer - iOS System...

**Job Summary** At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job
Read more

Sr. Technical Services Consultant, *Apple*...

**Job Summary** Apple Professional Services (APS) has an opening for a senior technical position that contributes to Apple 's efforts for strategic and transactional
Read more

Event Director, *Apple* Retail Marketing -...

…This senior level position is responsible for leading and imagining the Apple Retail Team's global engagement strategy and team. Delivering an overarching brand
Read more

*Apple* Pay - Site Reliability Engineer - Ap...

**Job Summary** Imagine what you could do here. At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring
Read more

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